Of Moms and Cookies
by Red Witch
Summary: Two things a Supertrooper knows nothing about. But Shane Gooseman is going to get a bit of a crash course on them from an unlikely source.


**The disclaimer saying that I don't own any Galaxy Rangers characters has been made into cookies. Here is just some crazy funny fluff that went though my mind. **

**Of Moms and Cookies**

"I can't believe I got drafted into this," Shane Gooseman grumbled as he made his way down the hall. "Why couldn't I get sent on a mission to chase smugglers or blast a few pirates? Even hunting down Kilbane would be a lot easier than this!"

"Goose it's only for a few hours," Niko told him. "Zachery and the rest of us will be there after we finish the report on our last mission."

"Figures, the **one time** I actually write a report early," Shane grumbled. "I end up on babysitting duty."

"Jessica and Little Zach aren't bad kids and they like you," Niko said. "Just keep them company for a few hours until we finish. You can do that can't you?"

"But what do I do with them?" Shane asked as they made it to Zach's quarters.

"I'm sure you'll think of something," Niko smirked. "Just don't use your blasters on them and everything will be fine."

"But Niko…" Shane protested.

"Have fun, Goose," Niko grinned walking away.

Shane rolled his eyes and groaned. "Okay this can't be **that** hard," He said to himself. "Just go in there and take charge. How hard can it be?"

He entered the apartment. The first thing he noticed that it seemed very quiet. Then a loud wail was heard in the back. "Little Zach? Jessica?" Instantly his senses were on alert. He burst into one of the bedrooms where the noise was, ready to fight off any intruders.

He found both Zach Jr. and Jessica crying on her bed. While the boy was fighting his tears, the girl was sobbing profusely. On the floor was a broken piece of pottery. "Are you kids all right? Are you hurt? What's wrong?" Shane asked.

"N-no," Jessica sobbed. "I-I broke Mom's vase. It's the one I made for her for Christmas before…before…"

"It was kind of our last art project we made for her," Zach Jr. explained, sniffing. "It was an accident but now it's gone like…"

_I am so screwed! _The thought raced like a freight train through Shane's mind as he realized just out of his element he was. The kids' bawling shot through him like an electric shock. He had no clue how to handle this.

"Okay…Okay…Just calm down," Shane said more to himself than the kids. "Calm down…I'm sure we can glue it back together or something…"

Jessica bawled even louder. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Shane said quickly. "Forget I mentioned it! I am so sorry I said that!"

"It's not your fault," Zach Jr. sniffed. "I feel so stupid crying like this!"

Shane could feel a sledgehammer stabbing at his heart. "You just miss your mother. I guess it's only natural that you'd be upset…"

"It's not fair!" Zach Jr. snapped harshly. "She shouldn't be in the Cryocrypt! She should be here with us! It's not fair!"

"You're right, it isn't," Shane was reminded of his own private pain. "She was just a victim and…And the situation is lousy. And you shouldn't have to suffer for what someone else did…"

"Feel so stupid crying like this," Jessica sniffed and rubbed at her eyes. "Like we're little kids or something."

"Well you are kids," The words were out of his mouth before he realized it. "But that's not a bad thing. Take it from me. I mean at least you have a mother and a father who care about you. And you can be kids. Not some…I mean…Your mom is definitely going to wake up someday. She's not condemned forever to…"

The two kids looked at him. "Look give me a break! I'm not good at this stuff okay?" Shane held up his hands. "It's just…from the way I see it you kids are very lucky to have each other as well as family who love you. At least you know what it's like to **have** a mother. That's more than…"

"More than you had," Zach Jr. realized it. "You never had a mother did you?"

"I'm a Supertrooper," Shane explained to him. "I was born from a large test tube. The only thing I know about mothers is that they make cookies. Did she make cookies?"

"Yeah, the best," Zach Jr. nodded. "So who took care of you when you were little?"

"A man named Max Sawyer," Shane said softly as he sat down next to them. "His was his job to look after us Supertroopers when we were very young. He used to feed and take care of us until we were old enough to take care of ourselves."

"So he was like a Dad to you guys?" Zach Jr. asked.

"Looking back on it he was more like a referee," Shane smirked. "We were always getting into fights with each other. And since I was the youngest, I got picked on the most. Don't worry, I gave back as good as I got. Even better."

"Mom hated it when we fought," Jessica sighed as she picked up the broken pieces. "Remember we used to fight all the time?"

"Yeah, funny how things change," Zach Jr. was wiping away the tears. "Sorry Goose we didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

"It's not your fault," Shane told him, feeling even worse. "I just…don't get the whole family thing sometimes. I never met your mother, but it sounds like she was a good one. I mean **is** a good one. Could you…tell me about her? What is she like?"

"Well," Zach Jr. remembered. "She loved art. She was always doing craft projects with us as long as I can remember. We used to make all our decorations for all the holidays."

"She tried to get Dad into it but he wasn't as good as she was," Jessica said. "But it didn't matter to her. She said the real fun was doing it together. Having it come out perfect wasn't important as having a good time."

"See Mom worked a lot like Dad," Zach Jr. explained. "But she always made time for us. And she made sure that when we were all together we made the best of it. Do you remember the time we were making those ornaments that looked like jigsaw puzzles and Dad accidentally glued his fingers together?"

"Yeah," Jessica giggled. "It took Mom two hours to convince him to go to the emergency room to get unstuck and by then he had accidentally glued himself to the chair with a glue gun."

"He did?" Shane raised an eyebrow, making a mental note for future blackmail.

"Uh huh, it was funny," Zach Jr. snickered. "Remember the time she had to teach Dad how to use the Vid Player?"

"It was hilarious," Jessica laughed. "He refused to read the directions and nearly shorted the thing out. Then he thought it was on fire or something because it was making a beeping noise but it was really low on power. And Mom just stands there while Dad was running around the house trying to find the phone so he could call the fire department and she fixed it."

"That doesn't sound like the Captain," Shane was surprised.

"It was when we were real little and Dad wasn't a captain yet," Zach Jr. explained. "He always had a real phobia about machines. And he was studying for some exam and he was stressed but Mom took it in stride."

"She finally calmed him down long enough so we could watch a movie together," Jessica nodded. "We all were so tired we fell asleep right on the couch. She always found the good in every situation."

"No matter how bad you felt she was always there to listen and make everything okay again," Zach Jr. sighed.

"She sounds really nice," Shane said softly.

"She is," Jessica nodded. She looked at Shane. "I think she'd like you."

"You think?" Shane asked.

"Yeah totally," Zach Jr. nodded. "I'd bet she'd invite you, Doc and Niko over for dinner and make you your favorite meals. She loves to cook and she's great at it."

"Well if she's as good as you say she is I'll definitely come," Shane grinned.

"You promise?" Zach Jr. asked.

"I promise," Shane nodded.

"Goose," Jessica thought. "This Max guy…Did he ever make cookies for you?"

"No, but if it was a special occasion or we were really good he'd let us have some animal crackers," Shane remembered. "On our birthdays he'd let us have a whole box of them and we'd save them for the year."

"That's **it?**" Jessica's eyes widened. "You never had homemade cookies or decorated them or anything?"

"What do you mean decorating?" Shane asked.

"Decorating. You know putting on different colored icing and sprinkles and stuff on the cookies?" Zach Jr. told him. "Didn't you even do that at Christmas?"

"I didn't even know what Christmas was until I left Wolf Den and I was fifteen," Shane admitted. "Much less a Christmas cookie."

"Okay! That's **it!**" Jessica made up her mind. She grabbed Shane's arm. "Come on!"

"Where are we going?" Shane blinked, allowing her to drag him along.

"To the kitchen of course!" Jessica grinned. "We're going to teach you how to bake cookies and decorate them!"

"What?" Shane was startled. "Now wait a minute…"

"Come on Goose," Zach Jr. grinned. "It's easy. Mom showed us how to do this when we were little."

"Yeah I baked cookies with her all the time," Jessica nodded. "I can teach you!"

"I dunno," Shane was very hesitant. "I never liked KP duty."

"This isn't a punishment!" Jessica rolled her eyes. "It's **fun!"**

"It **is?**" Shane was definitely confused now.

"Trust us Goose," Zach Jr. grinned. "You'll love it!"

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"I don't know if leaving Goose with the kids was a good idea Captain," Doc remarked as the three rangers headed for Zach's quarters. "Knowing him he would probably teach them how to shoot holes in the walls."

"Goose wouldn't do that," Zach told him. "At least I think he wouldn't do that."

"You never know," Doc snickered.

"Doc, we all know Goose isn't irresponsible," Niko remarked as they made it to Zach's quarters. "Does anyone smell something burning?"

"Yeah now that you mention it…" Zach remarked as he opened the door.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEEP!

"That's the smoke alarm!" Zach shouted. They ran into the apartment and ran into the kitchen for a shocking sight.

The entire kitchen was covered in flour, eggs, batter and some kind of purple and pink frosting on the walls. There were half used paper towels on the floor. There were puddles of cooking oil everywhere. The kids and Shane were covered in flour and frosting and they were trying to take out little smoking pieces of charbroil out of the oven.

"So there's a little smoke? It doesn't mean that…?" Shane began when he noticed that they had an audience. "Uh I can explain…"

"What did you **do?**" Zach was in shock. "Goose what did you do to my kitchen?"

"You were saying?" Doc gave Niko a look.

"Shane, when I told you to do something with the kids I didn't mean set the place on fire! Or make a mess," Niko looked around at the mess.

"I told you not to turn up the oven so high!" Jessica snapped at Shane.

"I just wanted them to cook faster!" Shane defended.

"It doesn't **work** that way! How many times do I have to **explain** it to you?" Jessica was frustrated.

"Well why not? Heat is heat! The hotter it is, the faster something cooks!" Shane shrugged.

"Ahhhh!" Jessica groaned in frustration.

"Goose what is going **on** here?" Zach asked.

"What are those lumps of charcoal with purple goo on them?" Doc pointed to a table covered in them.

"They're cookies," Zach Jr. explained. "Or at least they're **supposed **to be cookies."

"Cookies?" Niko asked looking at Shane.

"The kids wanted to teach me how to bake and decorate cookies," Shane was slightly embarrassed.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Jessica sighed.

"Now we know the reason why not many Supertroopers become pastry chefs," Doc snickered as he held up a cookie in an odd shape. "Is this an octopus?"

"It's supposed to be a duck," Shane told him. "Or a rabbit. I think. Well it's supposed to be some kind of farm animal."

"There was an incident with the cookie cutters," Zach Jr. groaned. "Don't ask!"

"Look at the mess!" Zach shouted. "There's flour everywhere!"

"Sorry, that's my fault," Shane scratched his head sheepishly. "I kind of got carried away with the sifting."

"Why is there frosting on the ceiling?" Niko looked up.

"My aim was a little off," Shane admitted. "Those decorating bags with the little holes on them are tricky."

"Let me see if I get this straight?" Doc was giggling now. "The Gooseman can shoot a fly off a Bronto Bear's back without disturbing it from it's nap but he can't handle a cookie **two inches** from his hand?"

"It's harder than it looks!" Shane protested. "I'd like to see **you **do it!"

"Well if you insist," Doc coughed and took the nearest pastry bag filled with frosting in hand. In an instant he created a perfect rose shape on a very burnt cookie. "Voila!"

"Show off," Shane grumbled. "Let me guess, they taught you cooking too at that fancy pants school you went to?"

"But of course," Doc preened. "The art of cooking was just one of the many talents I perfected at Miss Abercrombie's Charm School."

"Well la de dah!" Shane said sarcastically. He grabbed the bag. "If you can do it, I can do it too! Just watch!"

"Everyone, duck!" Zach Jr. shouted out a warning. "Trust me on this!"

The Rangers wisely took the advice. However just as Shane attempted to squeeze out the frosting…

"Captain Foxx I'm sorry to just walk in like this but there are some reports that need…" Commander Walsh walked in with some papers.

SPLAT! SPLORT! SPLOOOOOOOOSSSHH!

"Uh oh…" Shane gulped as he realized he had just shot his commanding officer with a large splatter of purple frosting. "Uh Commander…I can explain."

"I can't **wait** to hear this one," Commander Walsh gave Shane a look.

"Somebody's gonna get it," Doc teased in a sing song voice.

"Shut up Doc!" Shane snapped.

"Gooseman!" Commander Walsh snapped, brining Shane to attention. "Please explain to me what the bloody blue blazes you are doing?"

"Making cookies sir?" Shane replied rather embarrassed.

"Cookies?" Walsh gave him a look as he wiped some of the frosting off of his face. "You were making **cookies**?"

"They made me do it!" Shane pointed to the Foxx kids.

"Thanks a lot!" Zach Jr. groaned.

"Sorry about the mess Dad," Jessica apologized to her father. "We were just trying to remember Mom and things kind of got out of hand."

"You were supposed to watch the kids, not wreck the place," Niko gently chided Shane.

"I was just baking some cookies," Shane said sheepishly. "It's not like I used my blasters on them."

"Next time you should use your blasters," Doc quipped. "It might be neater."

"Next time we should get a babysitter for the Goose," Zach remarked.


End file.
